Here are some other criminal cases involving parents accused of failing to seek medical help for their children:

November 2013: John Clark, 14 months, died of a staph infection complicated by malnutrition in Calgary. Police say his family had strict dietary restrictions based on their faith and nutritional beliefs. His parents, Jennifer and Jeromie Clark, are charged with criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessaries of life. The allegations have not been proven in court. A jury trial is set for next June.

May 2013: Alex Radita, 15, was found dead in his Calgary home after a call to EMS. The teen weighed 37 pounds when he died of starvation and complications from untreated diabetes. His parents, Emil and Rodica Radita, were charged with first-degree murder. Court has heard that the parents refused to accept Alex had diabetes and withheld insulin from him. The trial and sentencing arguments have concluded. A verdict is expected early in the new year.

March 2012: Ezekiel Stephan, 19 months, died in Calgary from bacterial meningitis. His parents, David and Collet Stephan, treated him with hot peppers, garlic, onions and horseradish instead of taking him to a doctor. The couple was found guilty by a jury in April of failing to provide the necessaries of life. David Stephan was sentenced to four months in jail and his wife to three months of house arrest. They have been released pending an appeal by the Crown over the sentence and by the defence which is appealing the conviction.

December 2006: Shatoya Chatelaine, 17 months, died in Saskatoon after getting the skin infection impetigo around her mouth. A doctor who saw the baby during a home visit several days earlier had advised her mother to take the child to an emergency room. After the baby died, it was discovered that she was also covered in bruises and had broken ribs. Charissma McDonald told police she didn’t take the baby to a hospital because she worried social workers would apprehend the girl as well as McDonald’s older children. She pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death and was sentenced to two years in jail.

September 1987: Lorie Atikian, 17 months, died of malnutrition and pneumonia in Toronto. Her parents fed and cared for her based on the advice of an herbalist. Court heard that as the girl withered away, the herbalist told the couple not to take the child to a doctor. A jury convicted Sonia and Khachadour Atikian of failing to provide the necessaries of life, but a new trial was ordered on appeal. The charges were eventually dismissed.

October 1981: Christopher Tutton, 5, died in Ontario after his parents took him off insulin. Several doctors had warned the religious couple not to do that, but they believed he had been miraculously cured of diabetes. A jury in Kitchener convicted Carole and Arthur Tutton of manslaughter, but a second trial was ordered on appeal. That ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court. The Crown did not retry the case.

September 1964: Bonnie Deabay, 5, died in New Brunswick of an infection from a cut lip that her mother treated with home remedies. An autopsy revealed the infection caused the girl’s death. It spread over several weeks, destroying one side of her lip, and extended up the side of her face, down her neck and into her chest. Bonnie had also suffered other injuries. Her mother and father, Glenna and Omar Deabay, were charged with criminal negligence causing death. A jury acquitted them at trial.

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CALGARY — Experts say the trial of a woman who turned to holistic medicine before the death of her seven-year-old son is likely to reignite a debate over the use of natural and alternative treatments.

Tamara Lovett, 47, is charged with failing to provide the necessaries of life and with criminal negligence causing the death of Ryan Alexander Lovett.

Ryan died in March 2013 after getting a strep infection that kept him bedridden for 10 days. An autopsy revealed the boy died as a result of a Group A streptococcus infection.

Police say the Calgary woman called for help early in the morning on March 2, 2013, fearing her son was suffering a seizure. He was pronounced dead in hospital.

They have alleged Lovett chose to treat the bacterial infection with homeopathic herbal remedies instead of taking her son to a doctor.

“In the short term, these cases may polarize the debate and lead to a further entrenchment for the true believers,” said Tim Caulfield, research director of the University of Alberta’s Health Law and Science Policy Group.

“However, over the long term, I am hopeful they will help the broader public debate.”

Police say there’s no record of the boy ever being taken to a doctor for annual checkups or any treatment.

Investigators say the woman’s friends were worried about the child’s health and urged her to take him to a physician.

“The cases are a very dramatic and sad statement that we should not put personal beliefs about pseudo-science over the interests and welfare of children,” said Caulfield.

It’s not the first time in 2016 the issue of natural medicine and the death of a child have been before the courts.

In April, David and Collet Stephan were found guilty by a jury in Lethbridge, Alta., of failing to provide the necessaries of life for their 19-month-old son Ezekiel.

The couple treated Ezekiel with smoothies containing hot peppers, onions and horseradish when he became ill. He died of bacterial meningitis in hospital. A number of people, including a nurse who was a family friend, recommended the parents take Ezekiel to a doctor.

The Stephans, who are appealing, argued their conviction set a dangerous precedent in Canada, because if “we do not fall in line with parenting as seen fit by the government, we all stand in risk of criminal prosecution.”

University of Calgary bioethicist Juliet Guichon said the law should go one step further and hold friends and family members accountable in a child’s death.

“The legal system requires citizens to alert child welfare that a child is in danger. Citizens just have to call 911 and they can do so anonymously,” she said.

“Perhaps the police will find evidence that someone had reasonable and probable grounds to believe that the child was in need of intervention and yet did not report this information. If so, then will charges be laid against that person for failing to report the child needed help?”